Spuing suspension device



Dec. 22, 1925- 1566,629

A. J. STRETCH SPRING SUSPENSION DEVICE Filed Feb. 1925 ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 22. 1925. 1566,62.

; UNITED STATES PATENT oF i-cs.

ARTHUR J. STRETCH, OF SEATTIiE, WASHINGTON.

SPRING SUSPENSION DEVICE.

Applieation iiled February 16, Seria1 N 9,451.

To allcvhom it may concern: vehicleaxle of well known form and 2 des- 55 Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. STRETCH, ignates a shackle support constructed in a citizen of the United States, residing at accordance with my invention, and arranged- Seattle, in the county of King and State of to be secured to the axle 27 by a suitable 5 Washington, have invented a certain new stud bolt preferably integral 1 with said 1 and useful Improvement in Spring Suspenshackle support. f 60 sion Devices, of which the following is a 19 indicates two lever arms rigidly sea specification. cured together by cross bar 20 and arranged My invention relates to improvements to be p'iv-otallysecured by bolt 28 to shackle 1 spring suspension and equalizing devices for support 24c. The inner ends of the lever motor vehicles and the object of my imarms 19 are connected by shackle links 25 i v provement is to provide a spring suspension with the iusualmotor vehicle spring 26; The and equalizing device that will act in conouter ends of lever arms 19 are connected junction with the ordinary vehicle spring with the upper ends of the resilient tension 15 to absorb the usual jolts, shocks and vibrasprings21 whose lower ends are connected tions, and prevent any rebound in the operwith clip 22 that is rigidly secured to axle 7o ation of the motor vehicle and'that will tend; 27 by "U bolts 23. at all times to keep the vehicle body in a The pivot bolt 28 is much closer to the horizontal position even though the wheels point of connection of shackle link 25 than 2 on one side are elevated higher than the it is to the pointof connection of tension wheels on the other side "of thevehicle. spring 21, thereby providing a leverage I Another object is to previde a spring susgreatly in favor of tension spring 21.

pension and equalizing device in which the In the 'operation of this device the weight ends of the vehicle springs are secured to of the; usual bodysupported on the vehicle 25 the frame or axle'upon which the springs spring 26 is borne by shackle links 25 which are supported by resilient means which perare connected with the shorter ends of lever mits the end of the spring to move toward arms 19 and are thereby resiliently supor away from its supporting member, thereported. As the vehicle spring 26 flexes and by enabling the spring to adjust itself and vibrates under the usual driving condition 3 always keep the body of the vehicle subto which it is subjected when supporting a stantially horizontal. load, the spring 21 will expand and, con- Other and more specific objects will be tract, thereby permittingthe short end of apparent from the following description lever arm 19 to move upand'down, thustaken in connection with the accompanying communicating the resilience of spring 21'to 3 drawings. the spring 26 and producing an easier rid- In the draWings'Fig. 1 is a view in. elevaing, more smoothly operating spring sustion showing a spring suspension conpension. The movement'of the ends of the structed in accordance with my invention, vehicle springs toward and away from axle one end only of the vehicles spring and axle 27 serves very efliciently to keep the motor 4 being shown. vehicle body that is supported on. vehicle Fig. 2 is a sectional view substantially on springs 26in a substantially horizontal posibrokenlines 22 of Fig. 1. tion. V

Fig. 3 is a detached plan view substan- An important feature of this construction tially on broken line 33 of Fig. 1. resides in the provision of the resilient sup- 45 Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation of porting means for the end of spring 26 so a modified form of my invention. that said spring 26 does not need to furnish Fig. 5 is a plan view of the device shown all of the resilience in itself, but a portion in Fig. 4. v of said resilience is provided for by the Fig. 6 is a view in side elevation of ansupport at the end of said spring. As each other modified form of my spring suspenequalizer has independent action each is free sion.

Referring to the drawings, throughout being individual in action take care of the which like reference numerals indicate like rear wheels the strains of which traveling parts, the numeral 27 designates a motor diagonally across the frame and away from to adjust itself to the road irregularities and the axle 27. and serves efiiciently to keep the vehicle body that is supported on the springs 26 in a substantially horizontalposition.

i In Figs. 4: and '5 I have shown a modification of the invention in which the shape 'of'the lever arms are varied and the auxiliary spring is a compression spring and is connected with the main axle in'a novel and efficient manner.

In this construction I show the same axle 27 and vehicle spring 26 and the same shackle support 24 as in the preceding figures, but provide instead of? the levers 19,

two lever arms 30 which are of substantially with lugs that areconnected with bolts" 36 that pass upwardly through a rlgrd sad dle member 37 on aXle 27 and are provided above said saddle member with springs 38 upon the top end of which are caps 39.

In operation the downward, pressure on springs 26 will tend to press downwardly on the longer ends of lever arms 30'; thereby tending to compress the springs 38, which springs 38 will act in conjunction with the vehicle spring 26 to absorb the shock and vibration, and check rebound. This form of construction is particularly advantageous for installation on certain types of auto- 1nobiles,where it is desired to havethe lever arms out of the way and substantially out of sight. v

In Fig. 6, I have shown another modification of my invention in which I provide lever arms 32 pivoted by bolts 28 to shackle support 24: and having their shorter ends extending inwardly and connected by shackle links 25 with the usual vehicle spring 26. The longer ends of the lever arms 32 are formed into loops which extend upwardly and around pivot 28 and thence straighten out and project downwardly and terminate at points alongside of the vehicle axle 27 The longer ends of links 32 are connected by tension springs 34 with suitable clips 38 that are rigidly secured to axle 27 so that a downward thrust exerted on shackle links 25 will tend to move the longer ends 01 lever 32 outwardly thus extending tension springs 34:, which sprlngs 84 will act in conjunction with the usual vehicle spring 26 to absorb the shock and vibration, and check rebound due to the movement of the motor vehicle over uneven surfaces in substantially the same manner as described in connection the springsto compensate for difi'erences in elevation. of the wheels on opposite sides of the vehicle and keep the vehicle body horizontal. r

The foregoing description and accompanying dravings clearly disclose a pro-- terred embodiment of my invention, but it will be understood that this disclosure is merely illustratlve and that numerous changes may be made within the scope and spirit of the followingclaim.

I claim:

In an equalizing device of the class described the combination with a motor 1vehicle having an axle and a transverse spring,

of a rigid shackle support extendingup wardly from said axle, levers tulcrumed on said shackle support, said levers having substantially horizontal shorter arms that extend inwardly and are connected with the ends of said vehicle springs and having longer arms that extend outwardly and upwardly, and helical tension springs s e' cured to said axle and connected with said longer lever arms and coacting with, said vehicle springs to aliord a resilient support and permit equalizing movement of the ends of said vehicle springs toward and away from said axle.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 6th day of February A. D. 1925.

ARTHUR J. srnnr o rr; 7 

